Reform watchdogs muted their criticism once their friends held power

Evidence

Before Mitchel’s election, the policy of the Bureau of Municipal Research had been to investigate city government no matter who was running it, but after his election, Cleveland announced, “When its friends are in power, a citizen research agency should not publish unfavorable information.” The city’s Good Government organizations had become much less active. One reason was that they did not want to hurt what they considered the city’s last, best chance against Tammany. But there was also another reason. As Allen himself put it: “One reason for this conspiracy of silent criticism and public applause cannot be too baldly stated or too vividly remembered, namely, almost every agency of outside criticism ‘had its feet in the trough’—to use a conventionalized term for sharing in political patronage.” — Robert A. Caro, The Power Broker, 362

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Reform agencies muted criticism once their friends held power and shared patronage — Robert A. Caro, The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the…, 362; Reformist factions help transform a party then must be suppressed to consolidate elite control — Anna M. Grzymala-Busse, Redeeming The Communist Past: The…, 406

Broader Connections

• Reform agencies muted criticism once their friends held power and shared patronage #corroborates (0.95) — Robert A. Caro, The Power Broker, 362
• Reformist factions help transform a party then must be suppressed to consolidate elite control #expands (0.72) — Anna M. Grzymala-Busse, Redeeming The Communist Past, 406